To my absolute horror, the truth which then unveiled not only broke my heart but it lead me to such infuriating anger and helplessness that I had no idea how to even begin to console her.

Though I’ve known her for a few years, never have I imagined that she was physically abused so much, so often and by so many including her own mother!

Aisha’s father left Rugiyya and married someone else when Aisha was 4. That’s when the beating started! She was physically beaten almost every day of her life, till she was 19, which was when she came to Male’ to work for a family. Let’s hear the story of her life on the island.

She gets beaten by her mother for every little thing she did, most of which she could hardly comprehend. She did physical labour since she was as young as 7 and lived like a maid in her own home. Her mother eventually got married after a series of men who came in and out of her life. Rugiyya then had more kids. However after two kids, the second husband left Rugiyya. The beatings became worse for Aisha, not to mention that Rugiyya completely ignored the younger kids and they became Aisha’s responsibility completely, even though Aisha herself was still a child.

Aisha went to school, cooked, cleaned, looked after her siblings and tried everything possible to avoid her mother’s beatings. To her absolute dismay, it never stopped. Finally, she got accustomed to the pain. She was unusually underweight, her hair was weak from numerous jolts that she had received frequently and she was almost always nervous.

Then came Faroog! Faroog was the son of a rich, ‘beyfulhu’ family in Male. He was sent to the island for 5 years to serve a sentence which he claims was due to a ‘political’ mishap. No one really knew or cared why he was sent to the island.

Faroog lived like a king on the island. He showered the women with expensive gifts as there was no dearth of money. He slept with most of the single women and some married ones as well. One of those women happened to be Rugiyya.

Faroog goes to Rugiyya’s house often and spends most of his day at her house. Aisha was 13 then. As Rugiyya had a job at the island office as a sweeper she goes there in the afternoons and Aisha was left alone at the house with the 2 younger ones and of course Faroog! It started has Faroog simply touching parts of Aisha’s body. She was so scared and tried to run away every time, however she couldn’t leave the two kids in the house. Aisha then started avoiding staying at home and taking off with the two kids to a relative’s house. But Faroog would follow her and tell her in public that her mother wants her to be at home and to take the kids home.

Few weeks since the start and Faroog finally had his way Aisha. She was raped while the two younger kids were in the adjacent room. After that she was repeatedly raped for months and then years… Aisha tried hinting it to her mom on many occasions but couldn’t. Faroog was her mother’s ‘manfriend’! Not only will Rugiyya deny it but it will cause probably worse beatings! Aisha was right.

Nine months later, Aisha finally told her mother because she couldn’t take it anymore. By then she was already 14 years old. Rugiyya not only shout and scream but poured the mug of hot tea she was drinking when Aisha gave her the news. From then onwards, Aisha NEVER spoke a word of it to a living soul till she married Ali and to me last August!

She was abused till Farooq finally left the island when she was 18. She had never run away…she stayed and looked after the little ones, mainly for fear that they may not be spared from Faroog’s inhuman acts.

A year later, she had come to Male’ to ‘work’ for a family. As Faroog had now left, her mother needed to look for others means of income. Aisha never passed her exams at school and was expelled at in Grade 9. Her mother says she will never be able to get a job that pays well, so go work in a house in Male’.

The ‘beyfulhu’s did pay her some money every month. However, the man of the house also paid in kind! Once again Aisha had to face brutal sexual abuse. She had no way out for months. Finally she changed to a different house with a friend she met in Male’. She met Ali when she was living with her friend, they became good friends. Ali had shown the most kindness anyone had ever shown to Aisha and after a lot of pushing she finally agreed to marry him.

Now the marriage…it isn’t working. Why? Aisha has been beaten so much since her childhood that she cannot let a man touch her without cringing. She has been destroyed by years of sexual abuse and is unable to lead a normal life with a man. She is unable to sleep at night because of endless nightmares. She has finally been to a doctor and learnt that she will never be able to have a child because of irreversible damage caused due to prolonged abuse. Ali did try to be supportive at first however gradually he’s losing interest. The one thing that was good in her life, she is about to lose that too

She has no where she could turn for rehabilitation, there is no judicial system that could serve her any justice. The society will probably bring her more shame. People would probably blame her for the incidents that destroyed her life… and yeah, she needs four eye witnesses even if she begins to think about bringing Faroog to court!

When she asked me that day, do I have anything to live for, is there a reason why I should be alive now? I had no answer

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